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<u>Tuplets</u> are rhythmic structures that subdivide a beat into a number of equally long sub-beats that isn't a multiple of 2. For example, in */4 time, sub-dividing into 2 can be done using 8th notes, into 4 uses 16th notes, and into 8 uses 32nd notes. If you wanted to sub-divide the beat into 3rds, 5ths, 6ths, or 7ths, you'd have to use a tuplet. They consist of are written in tab with a beam marker that connects line spanning above the notes, with a number or ratio of numbers written in the middle. In classical notation, the notes are beamed together with the ratio or a single number written abovethe beam. === Triplets ===The most common tuplet is a subdivision of a beat into 3 sub-beats, called a <u>triplet</u>. It almost sounds like a momentary 33% speed up or slow down in the tempo - you've probably heard them in plenty of popular music without realizing it. Here's an example:
1 |2 n |3 tr lt|3 u n u|4
C |/ / |/ / / |/ / / /|/
The "---3---" above the strums indicates a the triplet - here we have a quarter note on the first beat, 2 notes for the 2nd beat, 3 on the 3rd, and 4 on the 4th. We count this as "1 2 and 3 trip-let 4 uh and uh". I included the note names: q - quarter, e - eighth, s - sixteenth. === Conceptual Deep Look at Tuplets ===Tuplets can get incredibly complex, used in [[Syncopation, Polymeter, and Polyrhythm|polyrhythm]], an advanced topic we cover later on. While its kind of pointless to try to expand on tuplets beyond the common triplets and 6:4 tuplets (2 chained triplets) at this point, I want to expose the full nature of the concept rather than leaving you curious.
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Often the group of notes is all the same type and consumes the entire beat. For instance (in 4/4), you'll see a 3:2 tuplet of 3 eighth notes, or a 6:4 tuplet of sixteenth notes, or a 12:8 tuplet of thirty second notes. In these cases, you often only see the numerator of the ratio marked. We assume the denominator is however many of that note normally make up a single beat. In 4/4, 2 eighth notes, 4 sixteenth notes, and 8 thirty second notes all equal 1 beat.
It's more rare, but there are cases where the ratio must be specified because the rhythm would otherwise be ambiguous. For example, you may have a single eighth note marked with a 6:5 tuplet, then 3 quarter notes marked with a 8:7 tuplet, then 1 quarter note marked with a 24:23 tuplet. Believe it or not, this actually adds up to a perfect 4 beats of time. I'll prove it.
* 5 8th notes = 2.5 beats. The 1 6:5 eighth note = 1/6 of 2.5 beats = 15/36ths of one beat
* 7 quarter notes = 7 beats. The 3 8:7 quarter notes = 3/8 of 7 beats = 21/8ths of one beat, or 2 and 5/8 beats.
* Adding the first two bullet points above gives us 15/36ths + 21/8ths = 120/288ths + 756/288 = 876/288 = 438/144 = 219/72 = 73/24
* to get 4 full beats, we need (4 * 24)/24 = 96/24ths. We already have 73/24ths, leaving us needing 23/24ths.
* We invert this to get our tuplet for the last quarter note - 24:23. It equals 1/24 of 23 beats, or 23/24ths of 1 beat.
* 73/24ths + 23/24ths = 96/24ths = 4/1 = 4 beats. So our crazy 5 note combination actually adds up to 1 measure of time in 4/4.
Most of the time, such crazy math isn't necessary or really even useful. It's usually clear what the composer or transcriber wanted you to play when you look at the notation. Simple triplets can be a bit difficult to understand and even more difficult to execute at first. But once you can consistently play triplets, a rabbit hole of rhythmic possibilitiesemerges. But this This takes us back to what we first learned in the [[Music Theory Basics#Rhythm|Music Theory - Rhythm]] lesson. The whole concept of rhythm - using time signatures, tempos, beats, and measures - is designed to provide us a framework to organize musical ideas temporally. Writing and playing rhythms that deviate so wildly from the chosen framework is perhaps a bit counter-productive, unless the desired effect is to re-encompass the randomness and chaos that would ensue if we totally removed our rhythmic framework. Using random note durations (without tuplets) may not line up phrases with measures and down beats, but they would still line up with the beats, or at least divisions based upon a multiple of 2. Using random tuplets on the other hand would certainly cause notes to line up randomly off timed with all the beatsbreak down our entire concept of a rhythmic framework.
: "My God, when is he going to get to it?" ''-Everybody''
=== Strumming Tuplets ===
Now as far as strumming rhythm goes, triplets or other tuplets that contain an odd division of a beat (such as 3rds, 5ths, or 7ths) are going to throw us off a bit. We play them the same as above by speeding up and playing on each stroke. The problem is we end up reversing our up and down strokes, due to the odd division. If the pattern has two triplets, then we don't need to worry about it because they will cancel out. If not, we need to find some space to try to get back on beat. Or we just have to recognize that we've reversed down and up strokes and keep chugging along.
==== Using Space to get Back on Beat ====
1 n 2 tr lt 3 4 n
d u d u d u (d)(u) d u
Here we strum another triplet on the 3rd beat, but only pick the initial upstroke. Phantom strum the other two hits.
==== Two Triplets in the Same Measure ====
1 n 2 tr lt 3 n 4 tr lt
d u d u d u d u d u
Here we switch so that we're using upstrokes on beats 3 and 4; however, the triplet on beat 4 will get us back to downstrokes on the beat in the next measure. We just keep alternate picking and let the two triplets cancel out.
==== Triplet with No Space ====
1 n 2 tr lt 3 n 4 n
d u d u d u d(u)d u